Monday, November 30, 2015

Beautiful Fall Day

Cannot believe that today is the last day of November. This year has gone by so fast.
Had planned on getting up around 7:30 this morning. Got up at 6 am to let Hiker go outside. It was 27° outside according to my personal weather station. Hiker came back in and we got right back under the warm covers. I fell back to sleep and woke up at 8:01.
After breakfast, Hiker and I headed out to do some errands. Had to get my lottery tickets and I had a big bag of aluminum cans that I needed to take to the recycle center. On the way home from there, stopped at the Goodwill to drop off a bag of donations. Was surprised that it only took us about a half hour to run the errands.
After lunch, I put Hiker in the car and we went over to Central Park for a nice 2 mile walk. It was the first good walk Hiker and I have had since before my eye surgery. One thing though, I will be so glad when I don’t have to wear the big “old-far” sunglasses because they are NOT very comfortable. Once I get my contact lens, I’ll be able to wear “regular” sunglasses.
Was a beautiful fall day. It got up to 73° with high, thin clouds.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Productive Sunday

Slept in again this morning. Felt so good all cuddled up under the warm covers with Hiker.
Got up around 8 am and made some pancakes for breakfast. Washed my sheets and towels since I couldn’t do that last week because due to my eye surgery I could not bend over to put clean sheets on the bed.
Went outside and took all of my fall decorative magnets off of my garage door and replaced them with my Christmas decorative magnets. Took my scarecrows off the front porch and replaced them with some Christmas garland around the front door. Decided I’m not going to put up any outside lights this year because I don’t think it’s safe to climb up and down the ladder anymore.
I don’t decorate inside anymore. Have not done that since the Christmas before Ben passed away. This is my 5th Christmas without him.
After I was done outside, I came inside to find Hiker’s stuffed Charlie Brown toy losing his stuffing. Seems a little dog was shaking him around so hard that his seams ripped open. So I had to do “surgery” on him.
Won’t be doing a Monday morning dog walk with my neighbor Jean. She is dog sitting 5 or 6 dogs plus her 3 dogs. Too many to try to walk them all and wouldn’t want to leave any of them behind. I have some errands to run and Hiker can go with me on them, so that will make her happy.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Sleep Saturday

Hiker and I slept in some this morning. She woke me up around 5 am making that “throw-up” noise dogs make. She got down off the bed and headed for the living room where she coughed up a still solid treat I had given her last evening around 7 pm. She has a very bad habit about not chewing her food properly. She gulps it down most of the time. I don’t know how she enjoys the flavor because a lot of things I give her, she swallows whole.
I decided not to give her any more of those treats because if it didn’t dissolve in her stomach after 10 hours, I’m afraid that she may try to cough one up again and it might get caught in her throat and choke her.
Today I was having a little trouble focusing again. They told me that my vision would fluctuate for several weeks and it is doing just that. Yesterday, everything was pretty clear in both eyes but this morning each eye was wrestling with the other to focus. Had a headache most of the morning. That is why both my retinal specialist and the eye surgeon recommended I go with a contact lens in my left eye instead of just wearing eyeglasses with a non-prescription lens in the right eye. They both said there would be days that I would get bad headaches if I didn’t. Hopefully in a month, I’ll have that contact lens and my eyes will stop competing with each other.
Around 11:30 am, my headache was pretty much gone because I took some Tylenol. I decided to take Hiker up to Pet Smart to buy her some new dog treats since I tossed the ones that she coughed up. She loves going to Pet Smart because she knows they have treats behind the check- out counter.
Spent the rest of the afternoon watching an “Aerial America” marathon on the Smithsonian Channel. Fell asleep a couple of times.

Friday, November 27, 2015

Good Report From Eye Surgeon

Had to get up early this morning…not for Black Friday shopping though. I had an appointment with my eye surgeon at 9:15 this morning and Jean (who was driving me because they were dilating my eye) wanted to go to breakfast at Crazy Otto’s before my appointment.
My surgeon said my eye is doing great. He did notice a little scar tissue from the surgery but said it didn’t look like it would be a problem. He took off all restrictions and told me I could stop wearing the night shield. I still have to use the eye drops for a few more weeks. The pressure in my eye was 17 which is very good and my vision in the operative eye is now 20/30. It was 20/40 last week when I was in his office. He told me to go ahead and make an appointment with optometry for 4 weeks from now to get my contact lens. I tried calling them when I got home but got their voicemail, so I left a message. Hopefully they will get back to me soon.
He also said that if my retinal specialist needs to give me an injection that it won’t be a problem.
Found out something interesting. As I mentioned before, it was the steroid eye injections that cause the cataract. Well today my surgeon told me that any kind of a steroid injection to any part of the body can cause cataracts. The injections don’t just need to be in the eye. So he said since I will continue to need the injections for my retinal problem that eventually I will probably need cataract surgery in the left eye.
Kaiser Optometry called me back and I have an appointment to have an examination for a contact lens on December 29th.
Took Hiker down to Discovery Park for a little while. I thought maybe she’d like to get out of the house some and the weather was fantastic. A little nippy, but beautiful.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving

Stayed in bed until 8 am this morning. Figured since it was a holiday, didn’t need to get up early.
Still felt like my blood pressure was somewhat elevated. I didn’t check right away it with my monitor because I figure I it was high and I saw it, it would make me more nervous and it would go even higher. Decided I’d check it later today after my BP meds kicked in.
Thought about not using the eye drops today since I think they are what is causing my BP to be up, but then decided against that because I know I need them to heal my eye. There was one of them that I was supposed to stop using tomorrow, but I decided to stop using it today. Figured one day would not make that much difference. I have to take the other 2 for another 4 weeks, lowering the dosage as time goes on. I do that by using them less times each day. 4 times a day this coming week, to 3 times a day the next week, to 2 times a day the next week, to 1 time a day the last week according to the instructions.
Noticed it was overcast when I looked outside.
I put my little Butterball boneless turkey roast in the crock pot and then Hiker and I got in the car and drove down to the liquor store to get my lottery tickets for Saturday. When we got home, I settled down to watch the “Twilight Zone” marathon.
The sun came out just a little after 11 am and was gone again around 1:30 pm.
Decided to take my BP at 1 pm. It was 130/76 which is in the “zone” but still somewhat higher than it usually is when I take it. But I’m happy with this reading compared to what it was yesterday.
I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my eye surgeon. My neighbor Jean is taking me and she wants to go somewhere for breakfast before my appointment. We figured most restaurants won’t be crowded because everyone will be out shopping on Black Friday.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Restful Wednesday

Went over to Wal-Mart early this morning. Thought I’d get there before it got too crowded. WRONG!
After I left Wal-Mart, I headed over to the Tags Pet Vaccination Clinic to talk to them about getting Hiker’s teeth cleaned. I have never gotten her teeth cleaned because every place I ever called about it wanted $300 - $400 to do it and they anesthetize the dogs. Tags does not anesthetize them and they only charge around $125. They told me to call back on Tuesday to make an appointment for her.
I notice today when I took my blood pressure here at home that it was high which surprised me because it is usually very normal at home and just high when I am at the doctor’s office. So I got to thinking that maybe it had something to do with the eye drops they have me using to heal my eye after the surgery. Sure enough, all of the eye drops are considered steroids and can raise the blood pressure. I’m going to ask my surgeon about it when I see him on Friday.
Got my car insurance renewal today. Every six months when I get it, they keep raising my “estimated annual miles driven” which makes the premium go up. I keep telling them that I ONLY drive my car around the valley I live in, to do my shopping, go to doctor’s appointments, have lunch with friends, etc. I contacted my agent and she said she will check into it on Monday.
Hiker and I were sitting on my patio this afternoon. It’s nice and sunny but it was so cool that after about 20 to 30 minutes, I had to come back into the house because I was starting to shiver. I think Hiker wanted to come back in like I did because every time the sun moved and she ended up in the shade, she’d get up and move back into the sun again.
Noticed last night just before I let Hiker out to potty before we went to bed that there was another opossum in my back yard. Good thing I noticed it before I let Hiker out there.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Another Fun Lunch With My Widowed Girlfriends

Hiker and I slept in late this morning.
Was supposed to meet the widow ladies at the Egg Plantation for lunch today. I got there first and I think I got the last parking spot in the parking lot. So I texted the girls and told them. Then I went around front and found out there was about a 30-minute wait for a table so I called the girls. They were just getting out of the grief group session at the senior center which was about 5 or 6 blocks away. We decided to go over to Cathy’s Deli instead.
Doesn’t matter where we eat just as long as we are together and having a good time.
Yesterday I went grocery shopping and I actually found one of those small Butterball Boneless turkey roasts. The store only had about 2 or 3 of them left. Anyway, I decided to go ahead and get it and I’ll slow cook it in my crockpot for Thanksgiving. Hiker will be happy because she will get some turkey on Thursday plus she will get left-overs for several days. Instead of stuffing, I’ll make my cheesy potato casserole to go along with it and then I have the sweet potato pie for dessert.
Got home a little later than normal from lunch because they are so busy at Cathy’s Deli since it has changed management that it takes them longer to get our bill to us. Hiker was really happy to see me when I got home. She was jumping all over me.
They keep saying we might get some rain tonight and tomorrow.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Fantastic Weather

This morning instead of our normal dog walk, we just let the dogs play in my backyard. Jean is dog sitting 3 dogs this week so there were her 3 dogs, the visiting 3 dogs and Hiker. Hiker was not happy because one of the dogs (Max) is a big Lab and she is afraid of big dogs.
After Jean went home with all of the dogs, I made Hiker and I some poached eggs and then I went grocery shopping. Usually when I go on Monday mornings, there is hardly anyone at the grocery store, but today the place was packed. Guess everyone is trying to get there Thanksgiving stuff early.
I found a sweet potato pie at the store, so bought it. I like pumpkin pie but sweet potato pie seems to have more flavor. I don’t even like sweet potatoes but years ago, one of my bosses at Lockheed made a sweet potato pie for a pot luck we had. She insisted I taste it, telling me it tasted just like pumpkin pie, but I found out it was actually tastier than pumpkin pie.
I can tell that my eye is going to be needing another injection of the steroid again soon. Even though the cataract is gone from the lens, the distortion and the cloudiness in the back of my eye, near the retina and the macula is getting worse. I had the last injection in July so I’m due again in December. Don’t know if my retinal specialist will give me one that soon after the cataract surgery or not. My cataract surgeon told me there would be no problem if he did give me an injection at my next visit.
After lunch I took Hiker over to the park that is about 2 miles from the house. I will be so glad when I get my contact lens and can wear normal sunglasses instead of the “old fart sunglasses”. Those big, huge, clunky sunglasses don’t fit well.
Was 82° here today but we are supposed to get cooler tomorrow and maybe have some rain tomorrow night.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Stay Inside Sunday (Well, for most of the day)

Slept in late this morning. Decided since I’m supposed to be resting according to doctor’s orders that I was not going to doing anything but veg out today.
That crazy bird that was flying up against my bedroom window yesterday was back early this morning. Hiker and I started hearing the tapping around 6 am. Don’t know why the bird seems so determined to try to fly through my window pane.
Made some pancakes for breakfast and then decided to walk Hiker down to the park. Didn’t walk fast or very far. Just needed to get out of the house. I felt Hiker needed a walk because she is getting bored and starting to dig in the backyard. I also wanted to see how my vision was outside. It worked out pretty well.
Was a beautiful morning. Sunny and clear and a little breezy.
While walking around the park, I realized that my problem with focusing since my surgery is kind of like when I was a kid. I started wearing eyeglasses when I was 11 years old. Every 2 years I’d have to get new eyeglasses because my eyes were changing so quickly. Every time I’d go to the eye doctor my prescription would get stronger. The focusing issues I’m having now reminds me of back then. It would take 2 or 3 days for my eyes to adjust to the stronger prescription. I remember the floor would look like it was tilting when I’d put on a new pair of eyeglasses. Only now, I have that same feeling every morning.
After lunch, I put Hiker in the car and actually drove down to the liquor store to get my lottery tickets. Even though I’m still “out of focus” my eyes were much clearer than when I was driving around with that cataract in my eye.
Spent the afternoon watching Hallmark Christmas movies again.

Me wearing my “old-fart sunglasses” – they are huge!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Still Out Of Focus

Sure hope that when I’m finally able to get to the optometrist in a few weeks and get my contact lens for my left eye that it will make it easier for my brain to focus by eyes equally. Each morning I never know if my eyes are going to focus or not. I keep telling myself that my doctor said my vision is going to fluctuate for several weeks.
The hard part is that with my right eye (the one I had the surgery on) I cannot see anything up close. My left eye cannot see distance without me wearing my eyeglasses. I actually feel as if I’m inside my head looking out. Like I’m inside a box or something. Makes me feel light-headed all of the time.
Today my focus is so bad, I don’t think I’d be able to drive if I had to.
I was in my bathroom this morning and I kept hearing a tapping at my bedroom window. I looked out and there was a bird that kept sitting on the fence and every now and then, it would fly up to the window and hit it with its feet. I don’t know if it was just learning how to fly or if it was trying to find a place to perch out of the wind. It was tapping on the window for a long time and driving Hiker crazy.
My right eye felt very dry today. Was the same feeling I remember when I used to wear contact lenses and my eyes would get very dry.
Another windy day here today, so that could be one of the reasons my eyes feel dry. Other than the wind, it was beautiful outside. Bright and sunny.
I keep forgetting to put on my sunglasses before I go outside. I’ve worn transition lenses in my eyeglasses for so many years that I’ve never had to think about sunglasses. I’m using the big “over-the-eyeglasses” sunglasses they gave to me after my surgery. Ben used to refer to them as “old fart sunglasses”. Once I get my contact lens, I’ll get some nicer looking sunglasses.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Resting After Yesterday's Surgery

So I had to take the eye shield off yesterday after a while, even though my instructions said to leave it on for the first 24 hours except when I had to remove it to apply my eye drops. Since the surgery to the right eye, it is now pretty clear. I still have the distortion in the right eye because of my retinal problems in that eye but it is much clearer than it was with the cataract. My left eye, which does not have a cataract, still needs either eyeglasses or a contact lens because it is very nearsighted. When wearing the shield, I cannot wear my eyeglasses. My eyes were fighting each other so much to focus that I got a really bad headache, became dizzy and was starting to feel nauseated. Finally said to heck with the 24-hour rule.
I took the right lens out of my eyeglasses so my eyes could focus as much as possible.
The shield is mostly there to prevent me from rubbing my eye. I did put it back on last night when I went to bed, but had to take it off again when I got up this morning because I once again was having problems focusing.
I cannot believe how the colors seen through my right eye are so much more vibrant. Everyone told me they would be, but it is remarkable how much different the brightness is now between my right eye and my left eye.
Followed up with my surgeon this morning. He said my vision is going to fluctuate for several weeks and until I get the contact lenses for my left eye that it will be hard for my brain to adjust the focus. He said that he may give me the OK to call Kaiser’s Panorama City Optometry office next Friday when he sees me so I can make an appointment to get the contacts. He said everything looks good in the eye that he removed the cataract from yesterday and that my vision in that eye is now 20/40 without corrective lenses. I mentioned to him that I still have the distortion in the right eye and he said unfortunately I will continue to have that problem due to the medical condition I have with my retina.
He also told me to make sure I take it easy for about a week. No strenuous activity so won’t be doing dog walks or the dog park with my neighbor Jean for a while.
Was really warm here today. Our high temp was 92° but 92° this time of year does not feel as hot as 92° in the summer.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Surgery Day

Didn’t get much sleep last night. Didn’t go to bed until 11 pm and didn’t fall asleep until about midnight. Woke up a little after 2 am and had trouble falling back to sleep, but I did. Was planning on getting up at 5:45 am but woke up around 5 am and got up to start putting my eye drops into my eyes and got dressed around 5:30.
My appointment was 9:45 am but I had to be there to check in at 8:15. We got there around 8:10 and I was told that my doctor was about 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Found out it was because 2 patients were “no shows”. How can you forget to show up for surgery? But that made it better for me. Sat in the waiting room for about 15 minutes before they called me into the pre-op room. I was in there for about 20 minutes before my doctor came in to talk to me, then we went into the operating room. Was in there for about 10 minutes. Did not feel a thing and all I saw was lights and colors. Went into recovery room and they signed me out after about 15 minutes, so everything took about 45 minutes and I was in Jean’s car heading home 5 minutes before my actual appointment time.
Before I left, my doctor told me to continue putting the eye drops into my eyes as soon as I got home, but the discharge nurse told me to not put them in until after I see the doctor tomorrow morning. My discharge paperwork told me to continue using he drops as soon as I got home. About 30 minutes after I was home, my phone rang and it was the discharge nurse telling me that she had told me wrong and that I was supposed to use them today. Luckily, because my doctor and my paperwork told me that, I had already put the drops in right after I got home.
Now my problem is I have to wear this eye shield for 24 hours. Can only take it off to put my eye drops in. After the 24 hours (and after my follow-up with my doctor tomorrow), I still have to wear it at night when I sleep. My glasses won’t fit over the shield so it is hard to watch TV. I took the lens out of the right side of my glasses so when I don’t have to wear the shield.
I’ll be glad when the dilation goes down in my right eye. The vision in the right eye (the one I had the lens replacement in) is somewhat better than it was, but so far, not as good as I expected. Hopefully it is just adjusting and will be better. Right now there is still a lot of distortion which may still be caused from the retinal problems I have. Was really hoping that the distortion would go away. I do notice that I can see more light and the colors are brighter.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Day Before Eye Surgery

Woke up around 5 am this morning but didn’t get up until about 7 am. Put my eye drops into my right eye and then made some breakfast for me and Hiker.
Ran my scans on my computers while I was cleaning my guest bathroom, so got the housework I wanted to do out of the way. Any other housework will just have to wait until my doctor tells me I can got back to doing everything “normal”.
I’m a little nervous about tomorrow, but also excited to get the surgery done so I can see again when I’m driving. I just hope my B/P is not up like it always is when I’m in a medical building. My primary doctor knows I have white coat syndrome and he even has it written in my medical records. They will be giving me an intravenous sedative, so hopefully everything will be OK.
So I don’t know when or if I’ll be online tomorrow. I’m assuming I will be in the afternoon and evening, so I will let everyone know how my surgery went.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Got My Surgery Time

Normally on Tuesdays, I meet my widowed friends for lunch and we had planned on meeting today at the Egg Plantation over in Newhall, but one of them was having a washer and dryer delivered today, another was having her sprinkler guy come by and another said it’s been so cold lately that she just wanted to stay home inside her warm house. So that left 3 of us. I contacted them and they said since half of the group could not come, why don’t we just cancel lunch this week and meet up at the Egg Plantation next Tuesday.
Hiker and I got up just before 7:30 am and I put my 3 eye drops into my eyes before having a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I have to put the drops in 4 times a day so to help me remember, I do it at breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime. Since I have to wait 5 minutes in between each drop, it was almost 8 pm before I was done.
After breakfast, I went over to Wal-Mart. I was thinking about getting one of those little, round Butterball boneless turkeys for Thanksgiving. I used to get those when Ben was alive and I’d cook it in my crock pot all day. We’d have it for Thanksgiving dinner and then have sandwiches for a few days.
Well, Wal-Mart didn’t have any. They had a bunch of big turkeys, but didn’t need that much for just me and Hiker. Then I got to thinking that I really didn’t need a turkey on Thanksgiving. I actually like mac and cheese so much better than turkey that I decided that is what I’ll make instead. If I change my mind, I’ll try another store early next week.
When I got back home, I finally got around to my dusting that I’ve been putting off forever. After lunch, I did my vacuuming and tomorrow I need to clean my guest bathroom. Everything else will have to wait until my doctor tells me I can once again do my “normal” stuff.
Right as I was finishing my vacuuming, my brother Ron called me so we talked for about 20 minutes or so.
Around 2:30 pm the phone rang and it was the surgical facility. My surgery appointment is set for 9:45 am on Thursday, November 19th. I have to check in at 8:15 am. I called Jean right away to give her the information since she will be driving me. I called the surgical facility back a while ago because I noticed that the check-in time is an hour and a half before the surgery time and I thought maybe I wrote it down wrong but they assured me that I had the correct time because it takes over an hour to prep me for the surgery.
So I’m all set now. I’m a little nervous but I’m also glad I’m getting it over because it’s getting scary when I drive and cannot see very well.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Still Have Not Done My Housework

We got up early for our dog walk with Jean and her dogs. The wind howled all night here. I called Jean around 6:15 am to ask her if she thought it was too windy to walk the dogs, but she wanted to try. By the time we got out for our walk, it was more breezy than windy.
Had to start using my eye drops today to prepare for my surgery this Thursday. One of the stings some, but not bad.
Today was my day to water my lawn. The sprinklers came on at 7 am and when they did, Hiker started to bark like crazy. I went to look why she was barking and I saw that one of the sprinklers was gushing like a geyser. Looks like the sprinkler head had gotten cut off by my gardener’s lawn mower over the weekend. So Hiker heard the noise of the water gushing and she let me know something was wrong. Glad she did, otherwise, I never would have noticed it and a lot of water would have been wasted. I changed the sprinkler, but it’s still not working right so I need to remember to have my gardener check it out.
It really turned out to be a nice day outside once the wind died down and it warmed up a little. My brother Ron who lives in northern California said he is seeing snow in the Sierras which is a very good thing for California.
I’ve got to stop putting off that last minute housework I need to do before my surgery. I’ll probably end up doing it on Wednesday.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Simple Sunday

Got up around 7 am. Jean wanted me to go to a Holiday Craft Fair with her over at Old Orchard Park in Valencia. I thought maybe it would be raining this morning, but when Hiker went outside at 6 am, the sky was totally clear. When we left to go to the craft fair around 9:45, we saw clouds out over the San Fernando Valley that appeared to be heading our way. We were done looking around the craft fair within 30 minutes. Not a lot of sellers showed up because they heard it might rain. Anyway, by the time we got back home, the clouds were over the Santa Clarita Valley and it started getting a little breezy.
It got very dark outside around noon, it stated to rain a little. I thought it would be a nice day to put a log in the fireplace and have a fire. So that’s exactly what I did, then I went into my front bedroom/office to pay a couple of bills. By the time I got done, the clouds had pulled back and the sun came out and no more rain. So there I sat on the sofa in front of a nice blazing fire. Kind of killed the mood.
Since I have housework to do before I have my eye surgery, I need to stay home most of the week and get it done. Will go to buy my lottery tickets Monday morning after our dog walk and then drive up to Sam’s Club to fill the car up with gas. I’ll still meet my widowed friends for lunch on Tuesday, but other than that, I’ll stay home.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Sleepy Saturday

Stayed in bed about an extra hour this morning. It was chilly and it felt good to be under the blankets.
Got up and made some pancakes for breakfast and then I mopped my floors. They have needed it for a long time, but I’m getting to where I put things off more and more these days.
Nice day here today, but they are saying we might get some rain tomorrow. That will be fine with me because we need it so much. They even said the snow level will be down to around 2500 feet. That would put snow on the top of the mountains around our valley.
Spent most of my day watching Hallmark Christmas Movies again. I have not had much energy to get out much since I’ve had to stop taking all of my vitamins in preparation of my eye surgery. I can really tell the difference in how I feel when I’m taking them and when I’m not. I feel very sluggish. I’ll be glad when I can start taking them again next weekend.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Friday The 13th

Up early for a dog walk with Jean and her dogs. We didn’t go to the dog park today. Hiker doesn’t really like going there because the other dogs frighten her, so I wanted to just do a walk like we used to.
After the walk, we let the dogs play in my back yard or awhile then we went over to Jean’s house so Jean could groom Hiker.
Was a really beautiful day here but Hiker and I decided to stay home since I’ve been running around all week. It was nice to just relax.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Just Another Thursday

Stayed in bed until almost 7:30 this morning. After all of the craziness of yesterday, I was exhausted. I think I’m tired because I have not taken my vitamins/minerals or herb supplements for a week now because I had to stop taking them 14 days prior to my surgery.
I made some breakfast for me and Hiker and then I called Jean to see if all of her electricity was back on yet. At the time it wasn’t. She called me a little while later and said that she saw Javier (the foreman of our community workers) next door so she mentioned to him that she still had sockets that were not working. He reset all of her breakers by turning them all off and then back on and then all of her electricity was back up.
I headed over to Sam’s Club to pick up a few things. When I got home, she came over and got all of her food out of my freezer and fridge that we had put in there yesterday evening because my electricity was working when hers wasn’t.
It was a beautiful day here. Pretty windy, but otherwise really nice. After lunch, I had to go to the post office to mail some empty ink cartridges back to HP so they could recycle them, so I took Hiker with me and then we went over to Canyon Country Park.
When I got home and picked up my mail, I was surprised to find a check from a settled class action law suit against Lockheed’s employee savings plan. Since I was a member of the plan, I was eligible to receive a settlement. I will say I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a lot more than what I had expected to receive, especially at this time of year when I have so many large bills to pay. It was actually enough to cover my homeowner’s insurance and my earthquake insurance. Nice!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

What A Day!

I was startled awake this morning by a beeping noise at 3 am. I knew it wasn’t my alarm clock, but could not figure out what it was. It stopped beeping but about 15 minutes later, it did it again. I finally figured out that it was my weather station console which sits on my dresser in my bedroom. The station has alarms on it if the outside temperature gets to certain levels. I thought I had them turned off, but I guess I only turned off the one for the heat. Our outside temp dipped below 32° this morning and that was why the alarm kept going off. I finally realized what it was, turned it off and went back to sleep.
I got out of bed at 6 am because I was taking my car over to the dealer to have it serviced and I had to be there by 8:30 am.
We had been warned by our community office that they were going to do electrical maintenance in our community today and that the power would be off and on sporadically between 8 am and 3 pm, so we were expecting the electricity to possibly go out at 8 am, but while I was on my computer, the power went out just before 7:30 am. This sucked, because my car was still inside the garage, so I had to disconnect my electric garage door so I could manually pull it up to get the car out.
Jean and I had planned for her to come pick me up at the dealer and then we’d go to breakfast and we were planning on going to the L.A. Zoo so we wouldn’t have to be home without power.
Then we found out that the power went off not because our guys who were going to do the maintenance turned it off. We found out that 3 major fuses or breakers exploded on the 2 poles just outside of our community gate. SoCal Edison had to come to fix it, but it took them awhile to figure out where the explosions had happened. Once they found it, they had to wait for more workers to come so they could repair it.
I took my car to the dealer, Jean picked me up and then we went to Crazy Otto’s to have breakfast, but because we forgot it was a holiday, there was a line outside the door, so we went to IHOP for breakfast instead.
While eating, we got to thinking that because of the holiday, kids would be out of school and that the zoo would be very crowded. So instead, we decided to go to the San Fernando Mission and go on their self-guided tour.
I got a call that they serviced my car, but while servicing it, they found that the battery was leaking. It was still under warranty, so they put a new one in. Then they said I needed an alignment because my care is 2 ½ years old and they recommend re-alignments ever 2 years. I knew that if the car is out of alignment, it wears the tires faster, so I told them to go ahead and do it.
We went to a few stores to waste time and then went to pick up my car. When we got home, the power was still out. Edison said they would have it fixed in about 2 hours, and around 4:30 pm, it finally came back on.
I had noticed about an hour before it came back on that my food my freezer was starting to defrost, so I got my generator out connected my garage refrigerator and big freezer to it so the food would not go bad. I moved all of my perishable food from the house refrigerator into the garage refrigerator. About 20 or 30 minutes later, the power came back on, but I decided not to move anything back into the house yet because they still have to do the community maintenance on the electricity and I might have to use the generator again.
Jean called me and said her house still only has power in have of it and some of the neighbors on her street were having the same problem. Since we have manufactured homes, we can have one half with power and one half without if there is a problem. I told Jean to take here perishables out of her refrigerator and freezer and bring it over to my house so we could put it into my big freezer. So we just finished doing that.
What a day!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Beautiful Weather

Had some errands to run this morning. Went by the post office to mail some bills and then headed over to the Kaiser Pharmacy to pick up my Lipitor.
About the bills, it’s weird. I was able to find a place online to pay for my homeowner’s insurance but even though my earthquake insurance is through the same company, there is nowhere to pay it online. Thinking it’s because it is associated with the CEA (California Earthquake Authority). Plus, the homeowner’s insurance requires me to sign a form that I agree to their terms, the form has to be mailed to a different address so you cannot include it in with the homeowner’s envelope. Figured since I had to go to the post office anyway, I’d just go ahead and pay everything with checks instead of doing one on line and one with a check.
I like to get to the Kaiser Pharmacy early because the open at 8 am and I get there around 8:30 and there is not a line to stand in.
Met my widowed friends at Crazy Otto’s for lunch. Fun as usual. Missed a couple of ladies who could not make it to lunch.
Tomorrow they are doing electrical maintenance in our community so our power will be sporadic between 8 am and 3 pm. This means I won’t be on the computer much, but I probably won’t be home much because I have to drop my car off at the dealer for service and my neighbor Jean wants to pick me up there and go out to breakfast and then head down to the Los Angeles Zoo. Our power will be sporadic on Thursday also. Guess that day I will go and get my car washed and then come home and get Hiker and maybe go for a hike or a day trip with her.
Beautiful day here today. In the low 70’s all day with blue sky and big fluffy clouds.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Rained A Little Today

We got up at 6 am so we could go to the dog park with Jean. Hiker does not particularly like the dog park. She is not at ease with strange dogs especially the other day when Keith and I took her there and those 2 big dogs scared her and chased her.
She was all right when we first got there. It was just her and Jean’s dogs and Hiker even wandered away from me, but then other dogs started coming in and just like before, Hiker was like Velcro to me. I also noticed that when she ran, she was doing a little hop with her left back leg. I had not noticed it before, but Jean said she noticed it last Friday at the dog park.
I worry about Hiker hurting herself because she jumps off my bed which is about 2 ½ feet high and when she goes outside, she doesn’t walk down the steps, she flies through the air and comes down on the cement patio. Her breed gets hip dysplasia, so I give her Glucosamine tables every morning.
It was getting really cold at the dog park and then it started to rain a little, so we left and came home. OK with me that we didn’t stay long because I needed to get my grocery shopping done.
I guess it rained pretty good while I was inside the grocery store because when I came out, my car was all wet and it wasn’t when I went into the store.
Didn’t do much today. The only rain we got (so far) was the little bit this morning. Right now, the sky is bright blue with a few big, white, fluffy clouds.
I did get some bills paid. This time of year I get my homeowner’s insurance, earthquake insurance, car insurance and property taxes.
Sure will be glad when I get my eye surgery done. Some days my vision is so bad.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Morning Hike At Vasquez

Up at 6 am this morning. I wanted to take Hiker up to Vasquez Rocks for a morning hike. Was going to meet up with my friend Robyn there, but she was not feeling well this morning and didn’t get much sleep last night, so she didn’t go.
There were not very many people there this morning, which is strange for a weekend day. We only hiked about a mile and a quarter. I love to hike, but now days, it’s harder for me. It’s not just my bad eye, which will be fixed in less than 2 weeks, but I also have the plantar fasciitis on my left foot and my right knee is not what it used to be. I can no longer hike some of the terrain I used to hike because I’m worried I will fall if my knee goes out.
Sucks getting older.
Came back home and did some stretches for my bad foot and then put some laundry into the washer.
After lunch, I sent Hiker out to the patio so I could vacuum. She hates the vacuum cleaner, so she always goes outside when I’m using it.
The instructions from the pre-cataract surgery class told us to stop taking all vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements 14 days prior to our surgery. We are only supposed to be taking our regular meds, like my B/P and Cholesterol meds and my low-dose aspirin. I can really tell that I’m not taking the other stuff. My hands are hurting me, mostly in my joints, because I’m not taking my Calcium and Glucosamine. Hope my poor bones and the rest of my body can make it until I get back to using all of my vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements.
Was in the 40’s here this morning but got up into the low 80’s this afternoon.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Beautiful Day For An Afternoon Hike

I really hate this time change back to Standard Time. I hate it when it starts getting dark outside before 5 pm. It makes me feel sad. I actually had tears in my eyes when it started getting dark last night.
Ben used to really like Standard Time because he was a home body and he loved to settle down early, sit in his big chair and watch TV. I always preferred Daylight Saving Time even though I too am a home body, but I feel so “closed in” when it gets dark early.
Last night a little after 8 pm, Jean called and asked if my water was off. I checked and it was. She and 2 neighbors on her street didn’t have any water either and we eventually found out that the entire community was out due to a main water break. I guessed they worked on it all night because when I got up at 3 am to go to the bathroom, it was back on.
I had been sitting on the couch watching the Hallmark Christmas movies like I do every year. After a while, I had to stop. Just about every one of the movies has a widow or widower in it and I was starting to feel sad and I was starting to cry while watching the movies. This will be my 5th Christmas without Ben and it still hurts. But I’ll get through it just as I have in the past.
Took Hiker over to Whitney Canyon to do an afternoon hike. It was a little windy and I could hear the wind blowing through the tops of the trees. It spooked Hiker a little. Several of the big trees have succumbed to the drought. Back in July of 2004, there was a huge brush fire that went through Whitney Canyon and burned a lot of trees. The drought has caused those burned trees to dry out and rot and the winds we’ve been having has blown a lot of the trees down. There were several lying across the trails.
About a mile or so into the canyon, I heard some rustling in the brush and there were two female deer staring at me and Hiker. Hiker suddenly saw them and she wanted to run at them, but I had her leash around my wrist and she didn’t get very far.
It was in the mid-80’s here today. It’s crazy. In the mornings I have to turn the furnace on to get the chill off the house because it’s in the 30’s or 40’s outside and then in the afternoon, it’s in the 80s. This morning it was is the high 50’s at 6 am because of the Santa Ana Winds.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Really A Beautiful Day In So Cal

37° here at 6 am this morning. The Santa Ana Winds were kicking up, so it was a tad warmer than yesterday.
Jean and I took Hiker over to the dog park again today. Hiker was doing fine until a guy came in with a gigantic white dog named Wiley. I think he was a Samoyed. He was only 11 months old, but I’ll bet he weighed 50 to 60 lbs. He just wanted to play, but Hiker was so afraid of him. When he came near her she’d curl her lips and bare her teeth and she was drooling like crazy.
Once I was able to “sneak” away from her some and hid. Wanted to see what she would do. She went running over to Jean because she didn’t know where I was and the entire time, she was looking around for me. I was about 100 feet away from her and she finally saw me. She came running over to me and tried to jump into my arms and almost knocked me down. After that, no matter where I was, she was sitting right next to me, leaning against me to make sure she could “feel” me. When I would start to walk, she got right between my legs and almost tripped me.
I don’t know if she had been attacked by a big dog when she was on the streets before the shelter found her or what, but she sure does not like them. She is fine with Jean’s dogs now because she knows them, but she was afraid of them when she first met them and now she is still shy around strange dogs.
When we got home, there was a flyer on my door from the community office telling us that next Wednesday and Thursday, there is going to be electrical maintenance done in the community so our electricity will be off and on sporadically those 2 days between 8 am and 3 pm. I hate it when they do that because then I have no computer and no TV. Plus, when they are done, I have to reset clocks that are not automatic or battery. I’m getting my car serviced next Wednesday, but won’t be gone more than a couple of hours. I’m taking Hiker with me, so she and I may have to go to the park or something after the car is done.
After lunch, Hiker and I went over to Canyon Country Park for a nice afternoon walk. It was beautiful outside today. It was 80°, clear blue sky and windy. Very typical fall day in SoCal.
I sure do like my Kaiser primary doctor. He is so good about answering email. If I send him one, he replies within 24 hours, even on weekends. I had not seen a test result for my CBC test from the other day and I needed that one to be complete for my eye surgery, so I emailed my doctor. He emailed back and said the CBC was normal and he sent me the numbers on it. I was getting worried about it since it was not showing up in my medical records on the Kaiser website.



Thursday, November 5, 2015

I'm Loving This Weather

Was 33.3° this morning at 6 am. Once again, when Hiker came back inside from going potty, she went right back to bed and burrowed under the blankets, and once again, I joined her.
We were under a freeze warning. I turned on the furnace and pulled the blankets up to my chin and Hiker and I stayed in bed until 8 am watching TV.
After breakfast, Hiker and I got into the car and went to buy my lottery tickets, then we drove down to the building where the surgical center I’ll be going to in 2 weeks is located. I wanted to make sure where I’ll have to check in. On the way back home, we stopped at Sam’s Club and filled the car with gas.
After we got home, I went outside to check the tape I have wrapped around my main water pipes. Wanted to make sure they were covered well so they won’t freeze. Many years ago, when Ben and I first moved here, we had a really cold winter and our pipes froze, so after that we started wrapping them.
I also covered up my A/C unit out behind the house, and since Keith was here when we changed from daylight saving time to standard time, I had not changed my batteries in my smoke alarms and my CO alarms, so I did that also.
After lunch, I took Hiker over to Central Park. It was a beautiful afternoon. In the high 70’s.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Busy Day At Kaiser

It was 35.6° this morning at 6 am when Hiker went outside to potty. She came back in and got right back into bed and burrowed under the covers, so I joined her.
We got up at 7 am because I had an appointment this morning with my primary doctor.
Had to have some blood tests run and an EKG prior to my eye surgery. Doctor said my EKG was very good and I’m slowly getting the results from the blood tests and so far, so good.
Also gave my advanced health directive to them. I was planning on giving it to them next time I had a physical, but decided to take it to them today.
Came back home and watched Y&R and had some lunch, then I had to head over to our local Kaiser medical building to attend a class. They gave us information about the eye surgery, explaining the 2 procedures of cataract surgery and told us which one Kaiser does. The also gave us information about what we need to do before and right after surgery. They have 2 surgeons and they both have different ideas about when we should stop taking any vitamins, minerals, herb supplements and blood thinners. My surgeon said 5 days is soon enough, but the other doctor said 14 days prior to surgery. There were about 12 to 15 people there who are scheduled for surgery. It was informative and actually interesting.
Now all I have to do is sit back and wait until I hear from the surgical facility about what time I need to check-in on November 19th.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Cloudy Day

So last night was the first time in months that I slept under my blanket all night. I even got Hiker’s blanket out for her and she slept under hers all night too. When she went outside at 6 am this morning, it was 41° on my patio.

I actually had to turn on my furnace to get the chill out of house.


I’m loving it!


Keith was trying to decide if he wanted to go to lunch with me and the widow girls at Rattler’s today, but then he decided he’d just head for home around noon because he didn’t want to leave later and get stuck in the traffic. The freeways he takes home get crowded with people who work in L.A. head home in the afternoon.


Had fun with the girls at lunch. While I was waiting for them outside of the restaurant, I felt a few rain drops.


I have my pre-op appointment with my primary doctor tomorrow morning and then in the afternoon, I have to attend that pre-cataract surgery class over at Kaiser.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Strange Day

Hiker woke me up at 5 am again this morning instead of at 6 am. I’ll be glad when she gets her mind and body adjusted to standard time.
We were supposed to go to the dog park with Jean and her dogs, but I got a call from Jean this morning. She had put her dogs into the car and was going to come pick us up, but she didn’t wait for her automatic garage door to open all the way and she backed into it, crinkling it all up and then it got jammed and she could not get her car out of the garage.
She didn’t want to leave her garage open as now the door would not go up or down, so we didn’t go anywhere with the dogs.
Instead, Keith and I headed over to the new Crazy Otto’s Diner that opened last week a few blocks from my home and had breakfast. They give you an extremely large amount of food. I didn’t quite finish mine, which is strange for me because I usually don’t have that problem. Keith brought some of his home to eat later. He had their huge Spanish omelet and I had ham steak and eggs.
We left there and stopped by home so Keith could put his left overs in my fridge.
Keith helped me check my rain gutters to see if they needed cleaning. They were OK, so then we went over to Wal-Mart for something Keith needed to pick up then we came back and picked up Hiker and took her over to the dog park. We had thought about taking her out for a hike maybe to Vasquez Rocks, but the weather took a turn and it became very cloudy and we didn’t want to get stuck in a down-pour.
While at the dog park, there were 2 big dogs that came in after us and they both bounded towards Hiker and that scared her. She screamed and the kept hiding behind me. She really needs to learn how to play with other dogs and not just Jean’s dogs. So we came back home.
It got very cloudy and the wind started to kick up. I know my brother Ron had rain in northern California last night and we are supposed to get some here tonight.
We drove over to where the new Papa Murphy’s Pizza is supposed to be, but they are still getting it ready to open, so we went across the street to Wal-Mart and picked up a “take-n-bake” pizza from their deli for dinner.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Fun Day

Since we changed the time list night, Hiker woke me up around 5 am wanting to go outside, I told her she had to wait and go out at 6 am because I want her to get used to the time change. Once I was awake, I could not go back to sleep so we got up around 5:45.
Keith was still asleep, but he heard us moving around so he got up. Around 8 am, we put Hiker in the car and headed over to the trail head for the Elsmere Open Space which is on Sierra Highway in Newhall. We had never hiked there before so we were interested in trying it. Well we were disappointed because there really wasn’t much to see in the area we hiked, but I’m sure if we had gone up the steep trail and over the ridge and down into the canyon, it would have been more interesting. We did 2 miles and then headed home.
Keith wanted to go over to Big Lots to buy some coffee, so we did that and then he and I went over to Red Robyn to have some lunch.
When we got back home, my plantar fasciitis in my left foot was killing me. I’m sure it was from the hike because there was a lot of loose sand we had to walk through.
Last evening we sat out on my front porch and handed out candy. Keith estimated that we had about 75 kids come by. Around 7:30 pm, we decided to come back into the house and watch some TV. Keith said he heard someone come up to the door and knock even though we had turned off the porch light and didn’t have any lights on inside the house. When we were kids, our mom told use to never go to a house to trick-or-treat unless the porch light was turned on.